Now in Early Access - Retro 3D!

My “Summer of Shipping” continues with the launch of Retro 3D into Early Access for the Meta Quest (3 or later).

Keep reading to get your PROMO CODE!

You may remember this image from my Hello, June newsletter:

I was just days away from heading to Augmented World Expo (AWE) in Long Beach when I published that newsletter, secretly anticipating the launch of CONNECTOME on Apple Vision Pro, getting my demos ready for the Auggies Unofficial After Party, and custom-stamping 100 pairs of vintage anaglyph glasses to give away at my demo booth:

I was tucked away with a few other demo buddies in the basement of Shannon’s on Pine - an Irish Pub and Sports Bar. This is the same location (and event) I demoed CONNECTOME at last year, only last year we were all upstairs surrounding the dance floor.

That loud dance environment was challenging to demo in, but at least we were in the middle of the action - there was no doubt that demos were taking place.

So, when I learned we were going to be demoing from a hard-to-find room in the basement, I was a little skeptical that anyone would find us.

Fortunately, that was not the case - I was busy demoing for 3.5 hours straight!

It was so funny to me. I had to keep a straight face when asked, “What kind of display is that? How did you create that?!”

Maybe it was a generational thing.

Maybe it was because we were at an XR conference and people were expecting to see something new?

Either way, it still brings me joy to remember how people reacted when they saw vintage anaglyph 3D content playing on a portable monitor! They thought it was new tech 🤫

Haha. So good.

I just smiled and explained what they were seeing: “No, I didn’t create it, I just found it online.” And then I demoed how they could experience the same sensation of classic 3D by using my quirky Retro 3D app.

And then it happened. It was late in the night and I was getting close to packing up when someone stopped by my booth and said, “I wondered when someone was going to do this. I had that idea too.”

Whew!

This is exactly why I started talking about this. I’d been sitting on the idea for Retro 3D for a LONG time and I knew that at some point someone else would beat me to it if I didn’t get it out there. I didn’t get the impression that this person was actually going to build it - they seemed to be satisfied just sharing that they had had the idea too, but someone would have. Maybe they still will?

But, I’m proud that I got the “idea out of my head and onto your face” (my new catch phrase??) before someone else did.

Or, “What’s next?”

For who? Me? You?

For me - it’s talking about Retro 3D and trying to spread the word that it exists. I think Retro 3D is fun. A novelty. A, wouldn’t it be cool if kind of thing. I’d like as many people as possible to experience it, so please share with everyone you know!

For you - why not try Retro 3D??

Use this PROMO CODE for 99% off: RETRO3DEARLYACCESS-2E107A
👉 App Store Direct Link

With the discount, you’ll get it for 3 cents. That’s less than the price of… everything!

Yes. What else?

AWE and demoing now feel like a lifetime ago…

Traveling to Long Beach kicked off what has been an event-filled summer (both work and play).

I flew home late at night from AWE only to wake up early the next morning, pack the car, and head out with the family on a camping trip to the Olympic Peninsula. After a few amazing days in the forest, I returned to wash the grime and smoke off, then over the subsequent 48 hours pulled together and installed Project Hydra: Iterations for the The Coliseum of Art in downtown Seattle.

After attending opening night that Friday (June 26), we promptly flew overseas from SEA to celebrate a milestone birthday for my mother-in-law.

While on this epic family trip, I learned that CONNECTOME had been featured by Apple on THE HOME PAGE of the visionOS App Store. I couldn’t help but step away from vacation mode for a few minutes to write a LinkedIn post to celebrate. I’m planning to share more in a separate post here on Substack about this, but worth highlighting here.

CONNECTOME is back on the front page of UploadVR (for now)!

It was nice to read:

“It is the type of app where time disappears. It felt like I was only in the app for a few minutes when it turned out to be over twenty.”

That’s it for now… until next time!

Thanks for making it this far.

Grant